Ryan wins 2nd successive U-21 title

by Bernard PERERA

SNOOKER: Ryan Somaratne (Otters Aquatic Club) made a clean sweep to win the Under-21 National Junior Snooker Championship for the second successive year.

The defending champion who entered the battle as the hot favourite kept a clean record winning all his matches throughout the tournament.

In the quarter-final too he had a straight four frames to nil win over M. Rizan, but in the semi-final against N. Badurdeen saw him lose the first frame 36-50, but fought gallantly to win the following four frames easily. Nazurdeen too had a good run throughout the tourney. He defeated A. Higgoda in the quarter after a hectic battle at 4-1.

In the semis too he lost two frames before overcoming Angelo Coonghe 4-2. But he failed to live up to expectations to give Ryan a fight and lost in straight frames 5-0.

Results:

Quarter-final:

Ryan Somaratne beat M. Rizan 4-0 (71-16, 78-17, 73-11, 68-16).

Angelo Coonghe beat M.R. Nazeer 4-1 (58-11, 70-38, 30-14, 11-51, 54-26).

M. Nazurdeen beat Anuruddha Higgoda 4-3 (50-67, 60-25, 69-29, 40-59, 61-34, 48-33, 55-33).

N. Badurdeen beat Lakshan Samarasinghe 4-1 (43-33, 29-61, 63-39, 67-24, 44-29).

Semi-final:

Ryan Somaratne beat N. Badurdeen 4-1 (36-50, 70-25, 59-16, 66-31, 67-33).

N. Nazurdeen beat Angelo Coonghe 4-2 (66-28, 23-58, 47-31, 62-69, 62-43, 46-16)

Final:

Ryan Somaratne beat N. Nazurdeen 5-0 (69-39, 80-36, 68-22, 60-39, 56-32).